Colony girls stun Wasilla, win NLC title; Warriors rally to grab boys crown

HOMER — The third time’s the charm.

In the third, and most important, meeting of the season between a pair of Valley rivals, the Colony Knights scored the big victory.

The Knights used a 10-5 fourth-quarter run to grab a 52-47 win over the Wasilla Warriors in the title game of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Homer High School Saturday night.

Wasilla, which entered the NLC tourney undefeated in conference play and the North Division’s top seed, led by double digits early, but Colony rallied in the second half to break a four-game losing streak against the Warriors and win its third NLC title in four years.

“I’ve always said, it’s just a mental block with them,” Colony head coach Tom Lincoln said by cell phone from Homer after the win.

Riding seniors Kelsey Cottle and Celeste Colegrove, Wasilla jumped to an early double-digit lead. Cottle posted eight of her game-high 15 in the first and Colegrove added six of her 14. But the Knights hit key outside shots in the second and closed the game in the fourth.

“It always comes down to the end for us,” Lincoln said. “We were a little gun shy at first, but we came back in the second quarter.”

Senior Kate Klapperich and sophomore Mary Klapperich each hit a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter as Colony sliced into Wasilla’s lead. Each Klapperich nailed a three-pointer early in the frame to cut the Warriors’ advantage to single digits. Kate Klapperich hit her second to bring the Knights within two. And after Cottle hit a 12-footer, Mary Klapperich nailed her second long shot to cut Wasilla’s lead to a point, 24-23.

“That really saved us,” Lincoln said. “If we wouldn’t have hit those, they could gone on a run and taken it to a 15-20 point lead. The momentum of the game really changed for us.”

While it was the shooting of the Klapperich sisters that pulled Colony back into the game, defense was key in the fourth quarter. The Knights allowed only five points, and one Wasilla field goal, during the final eight minutes of play. That lone score, an Alysha Devine three-pointer, came with 18 seconds to play.

“Once we got the lead, that put the pressure on Wasilla,” Lincoln said.

After Colony sophomore Allison Leigh went to the basket to tie the score at 30 just inside the second half, neither team led by more tha n two until sophomore Alexis Imoe used a short jumper to give Wasilla the 43-39 advantage late in the third.

At the tail end of the third period, Colony freshman Jerica Nelson was fouled on a three-point attempt. Nelson hit all three free throws to cut Wasilla’s lead to 43-42.

“That was huge of her to do that,” Lincoln said of the free throws.

Early in the fourth, Leigh went to the basket again to give Colony the 44-43 lead. The Knights would never trail again in the game.

Kate Klapperich helped seal the game for the Knights at the free throw line in the fourth, hitting 5 of 6 attempts. The senior led the Knights with 13 points. Leigh added 12. Lincoln said a big difference for the Knights was contribution throughout the lineup.

“We went all the way down the bench, 10 deep,” Lincoln said. “Everyone contributed.”

Both teams advance to the 4A state tournament, which starts March 17 in Anchorage.

Wasilla 53, Palmer 30

HOMER — The Wasilla Warriors moved into the conference final with a 53-30 win over rival Palmer during the semis Friday evening at Homer High.

Senior Kelsey Cottle scored nine of her game-high 15 points in the first quarter. Junior Alyssa Hutchins added 14 points in the win.

Senior Erin LaMere led the Moose with eight points.

Colony 41, Kodiak 31

HOMER — Senior Kate Klapperich scored a dozen of her game-high 18 points to lead the Colony Knights to a 41-31 semifinal win over the Kodiak Bears.

Kodiak led 14-13 at the half, but Klapperich led Colony’s second-half charge. Klapperich hit five shots from the floor during the final two quarters and Pherrari Brumbaugh and Audrey Michaelson were a combined 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the fourth.

Colony 52, Wasilla 48

NLC title game

Saturday, Homer High

Colony 8-16-18-10—52

Wasilla 19-9-15-5—48

Colony (52) — M. Klapperich 2 1-2 7, Nelson 1 3-3 6, K. Klapperich 2 7-9 13, A. Michaelson 0 0-1 0, Menard 1 0-0 2, Stefanski 2 1-3 5, Leigh 6 0-1 12, Forstner 2 2-6 6; Totals: 16 14-23 52.

Wasilla (48) — Al. Hutchins 2 0-1 6, Apangolook 1 0-0 2, Imoe 2 2-2 6, Brown 1 0-0 2, Colegrove 6 2-2 14, Cottle 7 1-4 15; Totals: 19 5-9 48.

Three-point field goals: Colony 5 (M. Klapperich, K. Klapperich 2), Wasilla 1 (Hutchins 1); Total fouls: Colony 13, Wasilla 22.

Wasilla 53, Palmer 30

NLC semifinals

Friday, Homer High

Palmer 9-9-6-6—30

Wasilla 16-10-16-11—53

Palmer (30) — VanHoomissen 1 0-0 2, Venzke 1 0-0 2, Houchen 0 2-6 2, Koehn 2 1-2 6, Blake 1 2-4 4, Whitfield 1 0-0 2, LaMere 2 4-4 8, Brandenburg 2 0-0 4; Totals: 10 9-16 30.

Wasilla (53) — Al. Hutchins 6 1-2 14, Apangolook 0 2-2 2, Imoe 1 0-0 2, Devine 2 0-1 5, Colegrove 2 3-4 7, Dinkel 4 0-0 8, Cottle 7 1-2 15; Totals: 22 7-11 53.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 1 (Koehn 1), Wasilla 2 (Hutchins, Devine 1); Total fouls: Palmer 13, Wasilla 14.

Colony 41, Kodiak 31

NLC semifinals

Friday, Homer High

Colony 7-6-12-16—41

Kodiak 10-4-5-12—31

Colony (41) — M. Klapperich 1 0-0 2, Nelson 1 0-0 2, Klapperich 6 4-9 18, Wood 0 1-2 1, Brumbaugh 1 4-6 6, Michaelson 0 2-2 2, Menard 1 0-0 2, Stefanski 2 0-0 4, Leigh 0 1-4 1, Forstner 1 1-3 3; Totals: 13 13-26 41.

Kodiak (31) — Garcia 3 2-2 10, Timu 2 0-0 4, Grupp 2 3-4 8, Juble 1 0-0 2, Cannon 1 0-0 2, Wandersee 2 0-1 4, Lampl 0 1-2 1; Totals: 11 6-9 31.

Three-point field goals: Colony 2 (K. Klapperich), Kodiak 3 (Garcia 2); Total fouls: Colony 14, Kodiak 18.

Wasilla boys rally to win

By JEREMIAH BARTZ

Frontiersman

HOMER — After Kodiak finished a mere 1-9 in conference play during the regular season, most would have never expected the Bears to work their way into the conference title game, let alone lead by double digits early in the championship.

But that’s why the play the game.

Wasilla needed a late effort to get past NLC’s 2011 Cinderella, and score a 43-31 win over the Bears Friday night in Homer.

Junior Connor Devine scored all 10 of his team’s points during the fourth quarter and the Warrior defense didn’t allow a Kodiak bucket until the 3:33 mark of the final frame, as the Warriors scored their third straight NLC title.

Behind a balanced scoring attack, Kodiak built a 10-point first quarter lead, and extended that advantage to 14 midway through the second quarter. Late in the first half, Wasilla began to chip away at the Bears’ lead.

Senior Joel Quenga hit a key jumper and junior Braydon Kuiper and senior Wade Stahle were a combined 6 for 8 from the free throw line in the second.

Wasilla continued to close the gap and was able to take its first lead since very early in the game, a 25-24 advantage, with a Kuiper rebound and putback.

The Warriors outscored the Bears 18-7 in the third quarter. Senior Cole Schierman scored all five points during that frame, and Kuiper and Stahle continued their success at the line going 4 for 4.

In the fourth, Devine and the Wasilla defense proved to be the difference. Devine hit five shots to score 10 of his game-high 16 during the final frame. A Josh Obas three-pointer was Kodiak’s lone bucket of the fourth quarter.

Both teams advance to the 4A state tournament, which starts March 17 at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Wasilla 60, Colony 49

HOMER — Juniors Braydon Kuiper and Connor Devine combined to score 41 of Wasilla’s 60 points to lead the Warriors to a 60-49 win over Colony during the NLC semifinals Friday in Homer. Kuiper, who also scored 22 in Thursday’s first-round win over Skyview, hit six field goals and was 9 for 10 from the free-throw line during the win over the Knights. Devine hit eight shots from the floor.

Colony used its outside attack to stay in the game. The Knights drained 10 three-pointers, including five from Hunter Eisenhower. The sophomore scored 21 to lead Colony.

Junior Jared Turner hit a trio of three-pointers and added 11.

Wasilla 43, Kodiak 31

NLC title game

Saturday, Homer High

Wasilla 5-10-18-10—43

Kodiak 15-6-7-3—31

Wasilla (43) — Schierman 2 0-0 5, Quenga 2 1-2 5, Kuiper 1 5-6 7, Stahle 2 5-6 10, Devine 8 0-0 16; Totals: 15 11-14 43.

Kodiak (31) — Fangonilo 2 0-0 4, Cowley 1 0-0 3, Obas 1 0-0 3, Medina 2 0-0 4, Matautia 4 0-0 9, Garner 3 3-4 9; Totals: 13 3-4 31.

Three-point field goals: Wasilla 2 (Schierman, Stahle 1), Kodiak 2 (Cowley, Obas 1); Total fouls: Wasilla 10, Kodiak 15.

Wasilla 60, Colony 49

NLC semifinals

Friday, Homer High

Wasilla 13-16-18-13—60

Colony 10-17-13-9—49

Wasilla (60) — Schierman 0 1-2 1, Quenga 4 0-0 9, Ferro 0 1-3 1, Kuiper 6 9-10 22, Stahle 3 0-0 8, Devine 8 3-3 19; Totals: 21 14-18 60.

Colony (49) — Turner 4 0-0 11, McCann 3 12- 8, Enloe 2 0-0 5, Eisenhower 7 2-2 21, Michaelson 1 0-0 2, DePriest 1 0-0 2; Totals: 18 3-4 49.

Three-point field goals: Wasilla 4 (Stahle 2), Colony 10 (Eisenhower 5); Total fouls: Wasilla 5, Colony 15.